I worked with Shaun and Craig last week on a photoshoot in Kalk Bay.They photographed me at my favourites spots in the area, including the Kalk Bay Nursery, where i fondled some plants. We waited for trains to whoosh past and I rode up and down over short pieces of road to make it look like I'm a hardcore rider...It was fun and I got to feel like one of those model people that are always in Kalk Bay getting shot for magazines, which was slightly awkward but still funny.The bike is a really smooth ride with 8 gears and really big wheels.

View more of the puma bikes here and more of the pics of other Cape Town locals riding them here.

Here are two shops in Brooklyn that were really rad.The Future Perfect, I spoke about in my previous post.A shop filled to the brim with awesome designer stuff.Beauty.Cinder Block Necklace [2008] Kiel Mead

Pack Rack [2010] Steph Mantis

Brooklyn Charm is one of those places that you walk into and instantly start drooling.I spent A LOT of dollar there. I bought many wishbone charms, a bicycle charm, cat charms, so many charms. I'll photograph them and post them once I've connected them to some chain.Wishbone charms

I decided not to do site seeing and gallery wondering. Okay...I did a bit of it, but mostly, I was interested in how people live and eat and shop.

The little boutique shops consisted of lots of "ooooh!" and scrambling over to something to drool all over it, then my magpie eye would catch some other little brass coloured, shiny object and I'd dart over in my most contained manner, glance at the shop assistant to see if they were looking, then touch it and wish it were mine.I'd do dollar, rand calculations in my head and put the object down softly and look unimpressed, leaving it to find something more inexpensive and look back longing over my shoulder at the most divine things and try and figure out how much money I really needed to eat everyday...

This happened on an almost hourly basis for me in New York and San Francisco.

The following images are from a shop in Brooklyn called The Future Perfect.Love that name.

MOMAI got to see lots of art at the MOMA, but most importantly, I got to see Marcel Duchamp's work and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

EATINGIn America, as soon as you sit down, they give you a glass or a bottle of water. Why don't we do this here?We sit and ask waitings (i don't like the word waitron) for water over and over and dehydrate because the waitings doesn't remember as it's not something that goes through a Micros system or something they can get a tip on. *sigh

With that rant over, 5 Leaves.This is probably my favourite restaurant in Brooklyn, not that I ate out much, but I did go there for dinner or lunch twice. They give you little jars for water glasses and reuse glass water or wine bottles to serve you "seated water".Maybe it's because everyone in New York walks and are all thirsty once they get to the restaurant....okay, enough on that now.

I ate the grass-fed burger with gruyere. They ask if you'd like your fries plain, OR tossed in truffle oil! I tested the truffle oil, it was delicious.

COFFEEI drank coffee at a couple of places, it wasn't as rad as the coffee you find in Cape Town*, but still drinkable.

Drip coffee is all the rage over there.It's like filter coffee...I don't really understand why it's a hyped up thing *

*coffee snob alert

I found this pair of shoes at a market, they're made by a company called Justin, they specialise in cowboy boots.I was instantly obsessed and began my quest to try and find these in my size.

Let's start from the beginning.February, I was loaded with client work, cross stitch orders, Design Indaba stress, which all came out quite nicely in the end and I managed to not bleed from the eyeballs.

I was grafting so hard to get some...well, chunks of money together for my holiday to New York and San Francisco. That being done, I made it to New York to start my vacation.

New York is a big city.I spent most of my time in Williamsburg which is in Brooklyn.I then moved on to West Oakland in the Bay area, San Francisco.

Please stay tuned for loads of pics and blog posts on my trip...I took a lot and did a lot to share with you all!